


A Bright New Day

by eriah211



Category: Primeval
Genre: Bad Matchmaking, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, Drinking, Kissing, M/M, Misunderstandings, Morning After, Team Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:48:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28557873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eriah211/pseuds/eriah211
Summary: The morning after the ARC Christmas party things get a little bit awkward.
Relationships: Hilary James Becker/James Lester
Kudos: 4





	A Bright New Day

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much to the wonderful goldarrow for the beta.  
> Written for primeval_denial's Secret Santa 2020 for nietie and the prompts: 1) “An accidental cuddle leads to complications”; 2) “An hour left to get back”; 3) “Where did you get that wound?”; and 4) “Do not leave me!”  
> Previously posted on Livejournal.

When Becker woke up in the morning, it took his foggy mind a few seconds to remember why he wasn’t at home. It took him only a few more seconds to realize he was in deep trouble.  
  
He had known the ARC Christmas party could be difficult to handle considering how much the SF liked celebrations that included free drinks, but it had been his first Christmas there and everybody seemed to be excited about it so he would have looked like a stuck-up grouch if he had tried to skip the party with a weak excuse.  
  
He had tried to change shifts with Captain Ryan, who was on duty that night, but the man had kindly refused.  
  
“No, man, thank you,” he had said. “I was off duty last time, it’s my turn this year. You go and enjoy it!”  
  
So, he had accepted fate and joined the others for a Christmas party that had been quite special that year. Surprising everybody, the Home Office had organised a dinner party at a hotel in the countryside and they had even booked rooms for everyone to stay the night so they didn’t have to drive back home or call a taxi in the middle of the night.  
  
Becker had wondered if the owners were members of the party or if the budget department needed to burn some pounds before the end of the year, but whatever the reason, they had got an excellent dinner with very fine wine and a nice party afterwards.  
  
They had to share rooms and he had got paired up with Danny, but considering the plan, Becker had thought they weren’t going to be spending much time in the rooms anyway so Danny’s constant teasing wasn’t going to be a problem. Not everybody had to share a room, though, as he had realised when he had seen that Lester and Jenny had both managed to get a single one somehow. Perks of being the boss and the PR head, she had told him, winking as they were being handed their key cards.  
  
Becker had been in his room briefly before dinner. The place was clean and nice, but small, and Becker was sure as hell that wasn’t the place where he was now. It wasn’t difficult to guess whose room it was, though, because of the king size bed in the middle of it, and because the warm body he had been cuddled up to on his sleep belonged to no other than James Lester.  
  


***

Becker tried to gather the information he had before panic could settle in. They had been cuddled up together on the sofa in Lester’s big hotel room, which was a problem; but both of them were fully dressed and Lester was still asleep, which was good.  
  
Sitting up slowly, Becker took a moment to stare at Lester’s face. He looked relaxed and happy, his lips curved into a light smile, so different from the smirk that usually showed on his face. Becker had to admit that he had found his new boss attractive since the beginning, but he couldn’t believe a few drinks would have made him make a move on him, in the office Christmas party, no less. The full-force of his hangover told him that it had been more than a few drinks, though.  
  
He was trying to remember the events of the night that had led him to that situation when he saw Lester’s eyelids flutter and finally open. First he looked confused, then surprised, and then Becker saw his expression turn into the usual serious one.  
  
“Well, ... good morning,” Lester finally said calmly, after clearing his throat.  
  
Becker felt the sudden urge to flee from the room, but that would have been terribly childish so he took the second-best idea he managed to come up with.  
  
“I have to use the bathroom,” he blurted out before Lester could say anything.  
  
Lester raised his eyebrows in surprise, but at least Becker had stopped him from saying anything else. Lester simply pointed to the bathroom door and Becker stood up and walked towards it immediately, closing the door behind him with a sigh of relief.  
  
Becker knew that had only given him a few minutes before he had to face Lester again, but he hoped it would be enough to clear his thoughts and remember how he had ended up in that situation.  
  
Becker looked at his reflection in the mirror and immediately noticed the big stain on the front of his shirt and suddenly flashes of memories from last night started getting to him.  
  
  
_He knew he had been drinking a bit too much, but the lads had kept bringing him drinks and he had felt it would be rude to refuse to take them, but, all things considered, he probably shouldn’t have gulped them down as fast as he had. It had been his turn to grab a few drinks from the table to take to the lads when, while turning around with both hands full with glasses, he had run into Lester, spilling most of his drinks over him._  
  
_Becker remembered he had been mortified and Lester had certainly not looked pleased, but when Becker had started apologising profusely, the man had simply stopped him, waving a hand dismissively._  
  
_“No harm done, Captain,” Lester had said. “I‘ll simply go to my room and fix the problem and, well, maybe you should too,” he added, looking at him pointedly._  
  
_Looking down, Becker had noticed then that some of the drinks had also ended up over him, a dark stain very noticeable over the front of his blue shirt._  
  
_“Of course, yes,” he had said._  
  
_As Lester had walked away, Becker had gone looking for Danny, who had kept the key to their room._  
  
_“I’ll go with you, Becks,” Danny had said when he had asked for the key. “The battery of my phone has just died and I need to send a message.”_  
  
_“That wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t spent most of the night taking photos and making videos,” Becker had chastised him._  
  
_“What is the fun of going to the office Christmas party if you don’t get embarrassing photographic evidence of the event?” Danny had replied, winking._  
  
_When they had reached the hall, they had found Lester, still waiting for the lift, and the three of them had taken the next one to go to their rooms, which were on the same floor._  
  
_They had been walking along the corridor, Lester already reaching the door to his room, when Danny had dramatically slapped his forehead and turned around._  
  
_“I left the key card in the pocket of my jacket and it’s down there on one of the chairs!”_  
  
_Becker had groaned and glared at him, but the cheeky man had seemed totally unaffected by it._  
  
_“You wait here, Becks, I’ll go to get it,” Danny had said. “But I’m sure the guv can let you use his bathroom to clean that up if it takes me too long, right?” he had added to Lester as he started walking towards the lift._  
  
_Lester had looked like he had been completely caught off guard, but he had politely agreed. “Yes, yes, of course.”_  
  
_Becker had looked at Danny with wide, begging eyes, willing him mentally not to leave him there, but the man had simply waved at him as he had walked away._  
  
_Becker had turned to look at Lester, who had been staring at him with an unreadable expression on his face, and had shifted uncomfortably under his gaze._  
  
_“There’s no need, I’m sure he’ll be back soon,” Becker had said, not very convincingly._  
  
_“I think it’s more probable that he’ll forget about you the moment he sets foot into that party again,” Lester had replied, drily. “Get in, the bathroom is right there.”_  
  
_Becker had followed Lester inside and had gone to the same bathroom where he was hiding now. He had clumsily tried to clean the shirt, he remembered, but had only managed to spread the stain further._  
  
  
After that, his memory got blurry again. Becker could remember getting out of the bathroom and sitting down on the couch, feeling already quite sleepy. He had taken out his phone to message Danny to hurry up and... His phone! Becker reached for his pockets but the phone wasn’t there.  
  
Steeling himself for the confrontation, Becker got out of the room ready to face Lester, but the man, who looked much more composed than him, simply walked into the bathroom with a small bag on his hand while saying “My turn”.  
  
Becker started looking for his phone and it wasn’t difficult for him to find it. It was on the floor by the couch. When Becker checked it, he found a half-written message that he never got to send.  
  
‘Where ar you mann? Hurr’  
  
Becker let out a sigh of relief. It looked like he had fallen asleep on the couch before sending the message. Not great, but at least he hadn’t puked on the carpet or something even more embarrassing. How he had ended up curled up against Lester was still a mystery, though. Maybe Lester had sat down for a moment too and then had also fallen asleep? He couldn’t recall it very clearly, but Becker thought Lester hadn’t looked as smashed as him last night.  
  
Becker was still trying to remember when Lester got out of the bathroom. The man looked straight at him and did something Becker wasn’t used to see him do, he hesitated.  
  
“About last night...” Lester said slowly, as if he was carefully picking his words.  
  
“I’m terribly sorry about last night, I truly am,” Becker interrupted him, feeling the need to apologize immediately. He was really embarrassed about having fallen asleep in his boss’ room after getting drunk in a party. “It was very unprofessional and I didn’t mean to do it, sir.”  
  
Becker had wanted Lester to see him like a professional and a valuable asset to their team from the start. Soon he had also found himself wishing Lester would look at him like something more and although that had seemed a bit unlikely, he had always had some hope deep down.  
  
Anyway, Becker had the feeling he had blown up his chances to get any of those, judging by the way Lester was staring at him now. Lester looked quite disappointment for a moment, but that expression was soon replaced by his usual mask of indifference.  
  
“I see,” Lester replied calmly after a short pause. “Let’s not make a big drama of it then. I guess we could simply do as if it never happened, if you’re fine with it.”  
  
“I would like that, yes,” Becker said, feeling relieved. “I would really want to forget about it.”  
  
“Then let’s never talk about it again,” Lester agreed nonchalantly as he walked around the room looking for something. “Now, surely you have some place to be, right, Captain?” he added as he took his tie from the bedside table.  
  
“Yes, of course,” Becker said immediately.  
  
Becker ran away from the room as fast as he could while pretending he wasn’t actually running. He hurried to his room and was surprised when the door opened at the first knock.  
  
As he got inside the room, he realised that Danny was sleeping on one of the twin beds so he had not opened the door for him. It seemed like Danny had left it ajar for him to get inside whenever he wanted to get back. Very careless, but quite useful, Becker thought.  
  
Not even bothering being quiet, Becker turned on the lights of the room and started unbuttoning his dirty shirt. Danny groaned, obviously not happy about so much light filling the room all of a sudden, but Becker wasn’t feeling merciful since he was still angry at the ex-copper for getting him in trouble last night. If Danny hadn’t forgotten the key or had simply kept his mouth shut, Becker wouldn’t have ended up in Lester’s room at all.  
  
As Becker kept unbuttoning his shirt, the bright light not doing any good to his own headache, another memory of last night flashed through his mind. He had seen Lester buttoning up his shirt last night. And he had stared for way too long to pretend he hadn’t afterwards.  
  
  
_Becker had been trying to clumsily write a message to Danny, when Lester had gotten out of the bathroom buttoning up a clean new shirt._  
_As Lester had walked to the other side of the room, Becker had felt he could take the chance to look at him without being noticed, but when Lester had turned around to leave his tie on the bedside table, Becker reflexes had been too slow to tear his gaze away before he could get caught so he had ended up looking straight at a slightly surprised Lester._  
  
_Becker had opened his mouth to apologize, probably, but what had come out had been something different._  
  
_“You brought a change of clothes?” he had stupidly asked._  
  
_A smile had appeared on Lester’s face then, a rare sight, Becker had thought, happy to be the reason of it. The half- unbuttoned shirt that allowed Becker to see Lester’s chest had also been a new and welcomed experience. A big, ugly scar on Lester’s chest immediately had caught Becker’s eye, though, and he hadn’t managed to stop himself from asking._  
  
_“Where did you get that wound?”_  
  
_Lester’s amused expression had then turned into a frown and Becker had immediately missed his smile._  
  
_“I think you already know about the future predator attack on the ARC building,” Lester had said, turning his back to him to pick a new tie from a bag that was on the king size bed. “This is an unfortunate reminder of that.”_  
  
_Becker had remembered it indeed. It had sounded bad on paper, but seeing it written over Lester’s skin had made it more real and terrifying._  
  
_“I was lucky, of course, I know,” Lester had added while making the knot of his tie. “Good people lost their lives that day. Stephen barely made it. But I blame myself for not being more careful around Helen Cutter. That woman had played us before, she got two of our soldiers killed in the Permian and Captain Ryan spent a month in a hospital because of her. I should have suspected something was going on the moment she came back...”_  
  
_Becker had noticed the sadness in Lester’s voice even if he had tried to hide it by avoiding looking at him._  
  
_Acting on a whim, Becker had left the phone on the couch and had stood up to face Lester, who had finally turned around to look at him._  
  
_“I’m sorry you had to face that on your own,” Becker had said._  
  
_Lester had stared back at him and Becker had seen the sadness in his eyes. Becker had felt the urge to comfort Lester, to assure him that he wasn’t going to be alone next time, that he would be there to protect him, but then Lester’s eyes had focussed on his lips and Becker had-_  
  
  
“Hey, Hilary, isn’t it a bit early?” Danny complained, making Becker lose his train of thought.  
  
“Do you even know what time is it?” Becker replied, annoyed.  
  
“Way too early, that’s for sure,” Danny said, his words muffled by the pillow he had put over his head to protect his eyes from the light. “You could have some mercy after what I did for you.”  
  
“Seriously, Danny?” Becker walked towards him and slapped him on the leg lightly. “You left me there and didn’t come back to get me!”  
  
“After all the effort I made to help you finally have your chance with Lester, I thought you'd be more grateful!” Danny replied throwing the pillow at him with such bad aim that it didn’t even brush him. “I didn’t forget the key, I was just tired of watching you look at him longingly from a distance.”  
  
“You did that on purpose?” Becker asked in disbelief. But of course Danny would have done something as silly as that. “Why on earth did you think that would be a good idea? He's my boss, you could have got me fired!”  
  
“Relax, man, the guv clearly likes you too, and the ARC is not too strict on that front as long as both parties are consenting adults,” Danny replied rolling his eyes. “Why do you think Stephen isn’t here?”  
  
“He was on duty last night...”  
  
“No, Cutter was, but he changed shifts so Stephen could stay in an almost empty ARC with Ryan,” Danny replied with a smirk.  
  
“Oh...”  
  
Becker had noticed the exchange of looks and the occasional lingering touches between those two, but he had to admit he hadn’t given it much thought.  
  
“Anyway, Lester is probably not interested in me in that way,” Becker said, a bit of disappointment showing in his voice.  
  
“So, it wasn’t a successful night?” Danny asked innocently, which was always a bad sign.  
  
“No, I simply slept on the couch. Nothing happened,” Becker said, although he was not as sure as he had been when he left Lester’s room.  
  
“The hickey on your neck says otherwise, soldier boy,” Danny said with a big grin on his face.  
  
“What?” Becker asked dumbfounded.  
  
He rushed to the bathroom to check on the mirror and there he saw it. It had been mostly hidden by the shirt collar, but when he had unbuttoned it, the red mark on his neck had been right there for everybody to see. Becker looked at his reflection in confusion... and then he vividly remembered Lester’s lips on him.  
  
  
_Becker had looked at Lester knowing that the longing he felt for the man had to be showing on his face and when Lester had licked his lips, probably about to say something that would put an end to that moment, Becker had decided to risk it all._  
  
_He had taken a step forward and kissed Lester lightly, giving him the chance to easily pull back if Becker had, heaven forbid, totally misread the situation, but Lester had immediately responded, raising his hands to hold Becker’s neck and keep him close._  
  
_Still kissing, they had ended up sitting on the couch and Becker had heard the sound of his phone hitting the floor, but he hadn’t cared at all. Lester had opened Becker’s shirt to leave heated kisses and small bites all the way down to his collarbone, but then he had suddenly stopped, making Becker groan in disappointment._  
  
_Lester had sat back, putting some space between them, and Becker had tried to fix that immediately, but a firm hand on his chest had stopped him from reaching Lester’s mouth again._  
  
_“Stop, Becker,” Lester had said breathlessly._  
  
_That had been enough to freeze Becker in his tracks. He had been so sure Lester wanted him as much as he did, but then he had wondered if the man was already regretting the whole thing._  
  
_“You’re drunk, I don’t think this is a good idea,” Lester had added, a bit more composed._  
  
_Becker had huffed and smiled at him. “Not so drunk that I don’t know what I’m doing.”_  
  
_“But probably drunk enough to regret this tomorrow,” Lester had insisted, looking worried._  
  
_Becker had sobered up at those words and had looked closely at him. “Maybe you’re worried you’ll regret it tomorrow, too?” he had asked, honestly. “Because I can assure you that I’ve been waiting for quite a long time to have this chance so there will be no regret on my part.”_  
  
_“If you’re so sure you’ll still want this in the morning, then maybe we could wait until then,” Lester had suggested._  
  
_Becker had actually had to fight the urge to pout at that._  
  
_“OK, deal,” he had finally said. “If I’ve waited that long, I can wait a bit longer.”_  
  
_“All right, then,” Lester had said with a light smile as he had carefully buttoned again Becker’s shirt._  
  
_Becker had leaned back in the couch as Lester had fixed his rumpled attire himself, but before the man could stand up, Becker had put his arms around him to stop him from leaving his side._  
  
_“Can I stay here tonight, though?” he had asked, almost shyly._  
  
_Lester had hesitated briefly while biting his lips, but then he had simply nodded and said “We’ll talk in the morning, then.”_  
  
  
And they had talked in the morning, even though Becker hadn’t known what kind of conversation it was in that moment. He remembered telling Lester ‘it’ had been very unprofessional and that he didn’t really mean it, for fucks sake. Becker groaned and covered his face with his hands.  
  
When he walked out of the bathroom, Danny was still showing a big grin, but he saw something on Becker’s face that made him frown immediately.  
  
“What? It didn’t go well?”  
  
“I fucked it up, Danny,” Becker admitted.  
  
“So soon? What happened?”  
  
Becker grunted as he rubbed his forehead.  
  
“It’s complicated,” he finally said, not in the mood to share the whole story.  
  
“Well, at least tell me you haven’t killed him and hidden the body in the wardrobe.”  
  
Becker glared at him, not finding that funny in the slightest.  
  
“All right, all right,” Danny said, raising his hands in a placating way. “Not the time for joking, I get it.”  
  
Becker sighed and his shoulders slumped in defeat.  
  
“What a fucking mess...” he said.  
  
“Is there something you can do to fix it?” Danny asked, straight to the point, as usual.  
  
Becker thought about it for a moment. He wasn’t sure Lester would be interested in hearing what he had to say now, he might have already made up his mind about the whole thing, but Becker was going to try to talk to him anyway.  
  
“Well?” Danny asked after a moment.  
  
“Maybe...”  
  
“Then what’re you doing still here,” Danny said, “Go out there and fix it, soldier!”  
  
Becker sighed and rolled his eyes. “That’s the worst motivational speech I’ve ever heard, Danny.”  
  
“I’m hung over, what did you expect?” he replied lying down in bed once again and covering his eyes with his arm. “Turn off the light on your way out, mate.”  
  
Becker snorted, but he buttoned his shirt again and then turned off the light as he walked out of the room.  
  


***

  
  
The walk back to Lester’s room was not as fast. Becker was still embarrassed about the whole situation, but he could feel a spark of hope inside. He could do it, he could make Lester understand it had been just a silly mistake.  
  
When the door of Lester’s room opened, though, Becker realised he hadn’t thought how he was going to start that conversation and he froze.  
  
Lester stared at him, a cautiously closed expression on his face.  
  
“I wanted to talk to you about last night,” Becker decided to say in the end.  
  
“I suspected that much, come on in, Captain,” Lester replied, still emotionless, as he gestured for him to get inside.  
  
They both stood in the middle of the room without saying a word for a while and Becker started getting nervous. He was worried Lester would be too annoyed or too tired of the drama or maybe he would just think it was not worth it and would prefer to forget about it. Anyway, Becker thought, he should start explaining things before the uncomfortable silence stretched even longer.  
  
“I was drunk,” Becker finally said.  
  
Becker wanted to slap himself. It wasn’t the smoothest of openings and Lester looked certainly unimpressed by his words.  
  
“Yes, Captain, I remember that about last night very clearly.”  
  
“Well, that’s the thing, I didn’t,” Becker explained, happy to get to the point. “I didn’t remember much until a few minutes ago. I’m really sorry that when I talked to you before, it gave the impression that I regretted what had happened.”  
  
Lester’s cold expression finally started changing. He looked unsure, Becker thought, maybe even a bit hopeful?  
  
“I do remember everything now, though,” Becker added with a smile.  
  
“That’s the thing...” Lester said, looking a little dubious. “Are you sure you remember everything exactly as it happened?”  
  
“I am,” Becker said, his insecurity finally disappearing. “But let’s go over it, just to be sure we both do...”  
  
Lester raised an eyebrow questioningly, but then nodded in agreement.  
  
“I was here last night,” Becker started. “No need to elaborate on how or why, let’s simply blame my clumsiness and an idiot’s bright idea.”  
  
A little smile played on Lester’s lips at that, but he didn’t interrupt Becker.  
  
“I kissed you,” he added, looking straight at Lester. “And you kissed me back.”  
  
Lester nodded at that with a serious expression on his face and Becker felt like he was about to finally get it right.  
  
“And you said I was too drunk and that if I really wanted you... I should say so in the morning.”  
  
“That’s right,” Lester agreed.  
  
“Well, it’s morning,” Becker said, slowly taking a step towards him. “And I’m sober,” he added looking as Lester bit his lower lip lightly. “So I hope you won’t object when I do this again,”  
  
Becker took another step forward and leaned down to kiss Lester. And Lester didn’t hesitate, didn’t push him away. Instead, he immediately kissed him back and Becker felt the day was going to be much better than he had expected when he had first woken up.  
  
When the broke apart for air, Becker could see that Lester looked much happier too.  
  
“We don’t have to leave the hotel yet, right?” Becker said, eyeing the king size bed greedily.  
  
“No, we still have an hour before we have to leave our rooms, why?” Lester added with a glint in his eyes. “Do you have any ideas?”  
  
“Maybe a few,” Becker replied with a smirk.  
  
He leaned down to kiss Lester’s lips once again and they both forgot about the rest of the world until much later, when an insistent knocking on the door reminded them that it was finally their time to leave.

  
  
  
END


End file.
